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Piriformis Static Stretch and Modifications

This video explains the Piriformis Static Stretch and how it can be modified for a variety of users. From beginner to advanced practitioners, this video will provide all the information you need for a safe, effective stretching routine.

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Transcript

00:02 - 00:06This is Brent, President B2C Fitness, talking about a static piriformis
00:06 - 00:10stretch, a muscle that has a propensity to get tight in both lumbo-pelvic hip
00:10 - 00:14complex dysfunction, as well as some individuals with lower leg dysfunction.
00:14 - 00:19This is most notable individuals who do a squat assessment and their knees bow
00:19 - 00:25outward. I'm going to have Vinnie come over and help me demonstrate. Now, your
00:25 - 00:29piriformis is the muscle that runs from anterior sacrum to greater trochanter.
00:29 - 00:34That is, it's kind of like a stripe that runs horizontally across your upper glute.
00:34 - 00:40When you do this stretch, that is where you should feel it. I'm going to have Vinnie go
00:40 - 00:49ahead and lay down. We're going to go flat on our back, legs straight. I'm going
00:49 - 00:55to have Vinnie take one leg, put the heel of that leg on the opposite knee, the heel
00:55 - 01:00is going to stay down. Now, we're going to have Vinnie grab this knee and pull across his
01:00 - 01:05body towards the opposite shoulder so that we're pulling the femur into flexion,
01:05 - 01:11adduction, and internal rotation. Now, the one problem we have with the stretch is
01:11 - 01:14some individuals will feel an impingement pain, a pinching on their
01:14 - 01:18inner thigh. If that happens we can't get a release and we're not going to get
01:18 - 01:21anything out of the stretch. So, there're a few things we can do to make this
01:21 - 01:27slightly more effective. First, we can preceed this stretch with a hip flexor
01:27 - 01:32stretch, and an adductor stretch. If that doesn't work, you go back to the stretch
01:32 - 01:35you still feel the pinching, we're then going to go ahead and modify this
01:35 - 01:39stretch. We're going to do something that most people known as the figure
01:39 - 01:43four stretch. We're going to have Vinnie put one leg up on the wall so he's nice and
01:43 - 01:48stable. We'll have him go ahead and take, once again, the opposite ankle, put it
01:48 - 01:53across the knee, and this time I'm going to have Vinnie push this way. At this point this
01:53 - 01:58becomes a posterior capsule stretch. Loosening the posterior capsule helps
01:58 - 02:02open up your hip joint, allows your femoral head
02:02 - 02:09to slide back in your acetabulum. Once we've done that, he gets a release, and we
02:09 - 02:18can have him then go back to the piriformis stretch. We should have gotten rid of
02:18 - 02:23the impingement pain. So, once again, this is a great piriformis stretch. If you do
02:23 - 02:28feel hip impingement start with a static hip flexor stretch, and a static adductor
02:28 - 02:32stretch, which you can see in previous videos. If that still doesn't
02:32 - 02:38work you can do the posterior capsule stretch, and then put this
02:38 - 02:43stretch last of those. Once you have this stretch hold it for at least 30 seconds
02:43 - 02:47or ideally until you feel a release and get some lengthening of that tissue.
02:47 - 02:50Thank you.

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